


Come Home

by ArgentLives



Series: live in gal pals [14]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-19
Updated: 2015-09-19
Packaged: 2018-04-21 11:12:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4826969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgentLives/pseuds/ArgentLives
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I said I love you, okay?” she squeezed her eyes shut and grit her teeth, cringing as soon as the words left her mouth. Like ripping off a band-aid, she thought bitterly, and soldiered on. “I love you, I love you, I think I’m in love with you, and I’m terrified. I’m terrified you’ll get hurt out there, I’m terrified that I even have feelings for you to begin with, I’m terrified that I’m screwing everything up by telling you this right now because I like that we’ve become closer and I can’t imagine not spending time with you anymore but I’m terrified that you’ll hate me now and I’m terrified you—you might not come back—and—” </p><p>“Felicity…” Laurel cut her off, voice soft and gentle, as she took a tentative step closer. </p><p> </p><p>[extenuating circumstances cause Felicity to confess her feelings for Laurel, even though she thinks Laurel doesn't feel the same way. <em>'thinks'</em> being the operative word here]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Come Home

**Author's Note:**

> written for the prompt(s): “I think I’m in love with you and I’m terrified” (on Felicity's part) and “If you die, I’m gonna kill you.”

“I’m coming with you,” Laurel pulled on her jacket angrily, glaring at the people in the room around her, as though daring them to object. Predictably, Oliver took her up on it.

“No, you’re not. You’re not even fully recovered yet, Laurel!”

“You did get hurt pretty bad,” Diggle agreed, “Maybe it is best if you play this one safe.”

Her fingers subconsciously went to her stomach, to the still-healing gunshot wound there. It was only a dull throb now, really, and she could move around without aggravating it too much. She was confident it wouldn’t reopen again, at least—Digg had done a good job with his stitches, and Caitlin, who had happened to be in the area on Flash-team business a few days later, had checked up on her and re-treated the wound, too.

“Please, that was last week,” she waved it off, rolling her eyes. “I’m fine now, really. Strong enough to fight again. And besides, you’re one to talk, Oliver. You get hurt all the time, and no one’s ever telling you to sit out.”

She let her gaze sweep the room—from Oliver’s disapproving scowl, Diggle’s stoic but skeptical expression, Roy’s wary glances towards Oliver. She couldn’t quite read the look on Thea’s face, mouth pressed into a thin line and apparently in deep thought, and Felicity was—well, Felicity was sitting with her back towards them, in her trademark swivel chair, apparently preoccupied with something on her computer screen. She fought down the strange and bitter feeling bubbling up in her chest at that, and forced herself to focus. 

“Seriously, we need all hands on deck for this one, and I am not sitting around and doing nothing while you guys are out there dealing with it.”

Oliver opened his mouth again, obviously preparing to argue, but Thea piped in before he could say anything. She pushed herself off of the table she was leaning against and held her hands up. “Okay, I’m with Laurel on this. We need all the help we can get, even if she’s still a little beat up. I mean, it doesn’t really matter what you say anyway, because she’s a grown woman and she makes her own decisions and you can’t really stop her.”

“ _Exactly,”_ Laurel sighed, grateful that at least someone was catching on. “Thanks, Thea.”

She was right, of course. It didn’t matter what they said, because ultimately she was going to go anyway, and there’s was nothing they could say or do to get her to sit this out. Still, especially with their track record of underestimating her abilities, her value on this rag-tag little team, it would be nice to feel some sort of validation from them, some confirmation that they did, in fact, realize that they needed her, that she was just as much an asset to the team as the rest of them.

“Fine. It’s still three against two, then, who think you should stay out of this one,” Oliver’s lips dipped into a frown, his eyes still hard, unyielding. “And you’re right, we can’t stop you, but come on—be smart about this Laurel.”

Diggle kept his arms crossed, nodding along in silent agreement, and she knew Roy wouldn’t help her case here either, not if Oliver wasn’t on her side. She narrowed her eyes at the back of Felicity’s chair, annoyed that she’d stayed silent the entire time. If anything, Felicity had always been the first one to rush to her defense, to stick up for her and support her efforts as the Black Canary when others seemed to doubt her. Her lack of input was…disheartening, to say the least. “Felicity?” she called out, frustration getting the better of her. “Little help here?”

Felicity’s head snapped up from what ever she was starting at on the screen in front of her—which, apparently, as far as Laurel could tell, was literally just her desktop background. She slowly wheeled her chair around to face the group, keeping her gaze fixed on her lap and fiddling nervously with her bracelet. It couldn’t have been more obvious that she  _had_ been listening in the entire time, and intently. Which meant that she hadn’t really been preoccupied, and she’d  _chosen_  to stay silent. Laurel shrugged off her annoyance, her hurt and confusion, to listen for her opinion. Strange silence aside, now that she had her attention she was sure that she’d at least be able to seal the deal, to make it so at the very least, the scales would be even. Except—

“I don’t think you should go,” Felicity said in a small voice, shrinking back into her chair and refusing to look Laurel in the eye.

“See, Fel—wait, what?” Laurel blinked back her shock, the words hitting her as though Felicity had swept her legs right out from underneath her. “You don’t…I don’t… _why not_? You’re always the one telling me that the city needs me as much as it needs them, and now you’re going to tell me I shouldn’t be out there? That I should stay back and do nothing, that I shouldn’t even  _try_? I thought you supported me with this, Felicity!”

“I do!” Felicity burst out, voice tinged with frustration, pushing herself out of her chair so that they were standing face to face. “Of course I do! But it’s just—recently, I…I’ve been thinking a lot and it’s—it’s so dangerous out there, Laurel. What you’re doing is dangerous and it’s reckless and it’s not safe and you’re not invincible, and just—why don’t you get that? Oliver’s right–you still need to recover, and what if something like that happens again? Why don’t you care that you could get seriously hurt, you could—you could  _die_. You’re  _human_ , you’re not fucking—”

“It doesn’t matter,” Laurel cut her off, giving her a strange look, wondering where all this was coming from. It wasn’t like she’d never gotten hurt before, but while it was never a pleasant experience, she could tell that this time, Felicity was more unnerved than usual. “I’m fine now. That was—that was nothing. I got hurt, I survived, I’m better now. And that means I’m good enough to get back out there and fight. Getting hurt in the process doesn’t concern me much, so long as I’m doing something.”

“I don’t care if it doesn’t concern you! You—you didn’t see yourself when they brought you in last week, after you got shot, and Digg had to give you stitches and I had to watch and you looked like you were in so much pain and—and for a while we didn’t know if you were going to make it, God, w _e didn’t even know if you were going to make it,_  and there was so much blood, and I—I don’t care if you don’t care about getting hurt, Laurel–because I do, okay? For fuck’s sake, I love you! And I can’t watch you throw your life away life that!”

“What?” Laurel froze, the frustration quickly leaving her eyes as they widened in shock, replaced almost immediately with something else, something Felicity couldn’t quite place. “What did you just say?”

“Oh-kaaay!” Thea clapped her hands together, quickly shaking off her own shock to move behind Roy, pushing him towards the stairs and then moving to usher Diggle and Oliver out along with him–all standing slack-jawed and staring wide-eyed between Laurel and Felicity. “I think we’ll just–wait upstairs, let you two talk. Come on—for God’s sake, Roy,  _move_. You too, Oliver, Digg, let’s go, let’s go, keep walking…that’s it…there we go…”

Thank God for Thea, Felicity thought, giving her a tiny nod of gratitude as everyone made their way up the stairs, the door clattering shut behind them and finally leaving her alone to face Laurel. This conversation was going to be painful and humiliating and _hard_ enough already, without them all listening in. She was grateful, at least, for the privacy. 

“I said…” Felicity swallowed hard, mentally kicking herself. There was no way out of it—Laurel had heard her loud and clear, she could tell by stunned-silent look on her face. Better to get the inevitable humiliation, rejection,  _whatever,_  over with sooner rather than later. She’d kept it in long enough now, anyway, pushed her feelings down and down and far away, refusing to acknowledge them–until Oliver had come back from their last mission with Laurel unconscious in his arms. 

In all her terror at the suddenly very real prospect that she could  _lose_  Laurel, and the overwhelming relief when she ultimately hadn’t, she’d realized that she couldn’t. Couldn’t ever let that happen, because somewhere down the line, something had changed in the way she felt about her friend, and no matter how scary or how unfamiliar, she couldn’t run from it anymore. From the solid, undeniable fact that she loved her, that she couldn’t bear the thought of losing her, couldn’t breathe when she’d thought she had.

“I said I love you, okay?” she squeezed her eyes shut and grit her teeth, cringing as soon as the words left her mouth. Like ripping off a band-aid, she thought bitterly, and soldiered on. “I love you, I love you, I think I’m  _in_   _love_  with you, and I’m terrified. I’m terrified you’ll get hurt out there, I’m terrified that I even have feelings for you to begin with, I’m terrified that I’m screwing everything up by telling you this right now because I like that we’ve become closer and I can’t imagine not spending time with you anymore but I’m terrified that you’ll hate me now and I’m terrified you—you might not come back—and—” 

“Felicity…” Laurel cut her off, voice soft and gentle, as she took a tentative step closer. 

Felicity kept her gaze fixed on the ground, on Laurel’s black boots, face burning in mortification. That was pity she was hearing in Laurel’s tone, it had to be, and suddenly she felt the burning desire to take it all back, along with the need to explain herself, to fix her mistake.  _Why did she have to open her big fat mouth in the first place?_

“Laurel, I—I’m sorry, I know you don’t feel the same way, and I’m so sorry, I’m probably making things so weird and I’m making you uncomfortable and I’m rambling again but it’s just that I value our friendship, I really do, and I—”

“Felicity!” This time it was more firm, and she reached out and grabbed Felicity’s chin, her grip strong but gentle, startling her gaze forward.

“What—?”

“Just…stop talking. Please.” Laurel sighed, taking a step closer and moving her hand from underneath Felicity’s chin to cup her cheek, thumb brushing lightly over her bottom lip and sending shivers down her spine. Felicity felt her heart speed up in confusion and anticipation at the contact, pounding in her chest. She had to be dreaming.  _Did_  Laurel feel the same way?

“But—but you—”

And then Laurel’s lips were on hers, and before she could ask her words lost in the shock and the thrill of it, any semblance of coherent thought out the window right along with them. Her concerns melted away as Laurel’s mouth moved against hers,  _with_ hers, soft and sweet and eager, her worries of making things weird and of ruining friendships quickly forgotten. She wasn’t exactly an expert, but she was pretty sure people didn’t kiss like this unless they  _meant_ it.

Too soon, Laurel broke away, but only to press her forehead against Felicity’s, keeping the space between them minimal. “I love you, too,” she murmured, so close Felicity could feel the words tickle her cheek, and  _God,_  how good it felt to hear it. “I really do. I’ve been hoping–well, I’ve been hoping you felt the same way for a long time, and—wow.”

“Wow,” Felicity agreed, unable to keep the smile off her face as a comfortable silence settled between them, drinking each other in.

“You know I still have to go,” Laurel sighed eventually, tangling their fingers together and stepping back a bit so that Felicity could read the silent apology in her expression. “Fight, I mean. With the rest of the team. And I could really use your vote of confidence.”

“Well, technically you don’t _have_ to go,” Felicity ventured hopefully before quickly wilting under the look Laurel gave her. “Okay, okay. I get it. I know you, and I know nothing’s going to stop you from going anyway, and you won’t forgive yourself if you don’t.” Laurel nodded in satisfaction, pleased that she seemed to know where they stood. “You do have my support, always…but I just want you to know…if you die, especially—especially after  _that_ , I’m gonna kill you.”

“Noted,” Laurel laughed, quickly sobering up as she realized Felicity wasn’t kidding around. She smiled softly and brought Felicity’s hand, still interlocked with her own, up to her face to brush her lips against her knuckles. “Really, I promise I won’t die. In fact, I’ll be back before you know it, and we can pick up here, right where we left off. Sound good?”

Felicity squeezed her hand one last time before reluctantly letting it go, leaning in and giving her a swift kiss on the cheek for good luck. 

“Sounds perfect.”

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on my [tumblr](http://bisexualiriswest.tumblr.com/), as most of these prompt fills are.


End file.
